NEW YORK, NY – The men's basketball team concluded the first half of their season on Sunday, traveling to St. Joseph's for a Skyline competition. The men were down as many as 20, but pulled to within 5 in the closing minutes of the game, but eventually fell 79-71. Yeshiva stands at 2-11 (2-7) while St. Joe's improved to 8-1 (4-0).

Dovie Hoffman led Yeshiva with 18 points on 8-17 shooting. He pulled down 9 rebounds and had 2 assists in 31 minutes played. Gil Bash came off the bench to score 17 as Yeshiva's only double-digit scorers on the afternoon. Jeremy Pressman and Chen Sina led the Macs with 4 assists each.

St. Joseph's jumped out to an early 13-5 lead, and extended it to 25-13 midway through the first half. Hoffman and Daniel Somech kept the game within striking distance, after Hoffman hit a shot from the paint and Somech nailed a three pointer. But St. Joe's pulled away in the final minutes of the half, building a 51-34 halftime edge over the Macs.

The Eagles started to pull away in the second half, going up by as much as 20 points early on. However, the Maccabees fought back and went on a 14-0 run to pull within 5 points with just over ten minutes to play in the game. The game stayed pretty close for the rest of the way, but Yeshiva would get no closer than five, and eventually fell 79-71.

The Macs out-rebounded their opponent 44-32 (18-8 on the offensive glass), but the difference in the game came from the free-throw line where Yeshiva managed just 9 attempts (5 made) to St. Joseph's 23 attempts (14 made).

Yeshiva has a break until mid-January, when they travel to Farmingdale State on the 20th for an 8PM game. After that, the Macs will play 7 of their next 8 games at home.